"We are the only country in history that ever deliberately changed its ethnic makeup, and history has few examples of 'diversity' creating a stable society." - Richard Lamm, former governor of Colorado

Friday, June 09, 2006

A 15-year-old schoolboy has been stabbed to death in south London

The grieving father of a 15-year-old schoolboy stabbed to death in south London today told how his son phoned him just moments before he was brutally murdered to say he was coming home.

Kamondo Mulumba, father of 15-year-old Alex Mulumba who was killed yards from his home after a disagreement between two gangs of black youths on a bus in Black Prince Road, Kennington, said he had told his son not to go out last night.

Speaking at the scene, red-eyed Mr Mulumba, dressed in traditional African tunic and trousers, said: "He came home from school yesterday at about 4pm. He went out about 6pm. He had just finished his GCSE exams.

"I told him not to go out. I said 'Just wait for me'.

"The last time I spoke to him was 11 o'clock pm. He said to me 'I'm coming home, I'm on the bus'."

Mr Mulumba, who lives on the Kennington Park Estate just a few minutes walk from the murder scene, said his son was due to celebrate his 16th birthday in August.

He added: "Not long after I spoke to Alex my other son called me. A friend of Alex's had called him. I was inside my house. He told me Alex had been stabbed and said 'Can you come out?' He said Alex was in St Thomas's Hospital.

"I found him there. I don't know if there was an ambulance or a friend who took him to hospital. I went straight to the hospital and I'd been there for 10 minutes when a nurse came to speak to me and said they had tried their best but my son isn't any more in life.

"I feel sad and shocked. I know the police are trying the best they can. What we need is justice."

Mr Mulumba, who said Alex's mother Vicky Agamaka suffered from depression, was asked whether he believed there was an epidemic of knife-related crime.

He said: "It will be, yes. Young people are walking around. But Alex was a good boy."

He said he had "no idea" why his son might have been targeted and that he was not the sort of boy to get into fights.

Mr Mulumba said that Alex was one of six, with two brothers, the eldest of whom is 21, and three sisters including a five-month-old baby.